A Great Day

[L Verge]

I forgot to add one little tidbit that I learned from the above gentleman who came with his wife and kids. About twenty-five miles from Surratt House - and even closer to the Mudd House - is the county seat of Charles County, Maryland. In 2001, the town was nearly wiped out by an F4 tornado. My daughter's family lives four miles south of the town.

My grandson was not quite one at the time, and my daughter was home alone with him and knew that they were under a tornado warning. She and I held on via telephone through it all, and I could hear the noise through the phone. It sounded like standing behind a Boeing 747 that was revving up to me. Thank god, our connection held, and I knew she was safe when it was over.

The gentleman who visited today, however, is/was a deputy sheriff in Charles County and was assigned to the LaPlata beat. He was on the northern outskirts of the town and was advised to stay in place. He then received notice to head into the heart of town to assess the damage. He told me that his first impression reminded him of a photo that he had seen years ago of the town of Dresden, Germany, after an Allied air strike. He didn't know where to start.

Several people were killed, the Catholic school was leveled, a small grocery store and bank were completely demolished and papers from the bank (not money) were later found in Delaware. Many homes and businesses on one side of town were destroyed as the tornado swept up the right side of main street, crossed U.S. Rt. 301, and continued out of town - leaving the left side of LaPlata practically untouched.

Now for the eerie thing that the deputy sheriff told me today: Late in the afternoon, he was told to search the ruins of one of the businesses on the right side of town that had been nearly demolished. It was a bookbinder's and used book store, and one room still had two walls standing. One wall contained bookcases, but only one book remained on the shelves -- a copy of The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Nettie Mudd Monroe signed by numerous Mudd grandchildren! The sheriff took the book from the shelf and later found the store's owner. He asked if he could buy the book, but the owner gave it to him as a memento. Dr. Mudd (or at least one copy of his history) was spared yet again.